Local "Witch"

     When we first moved here in 79, we heard the story about the local witch. As that was several years before I started this blog, I had pretty much forgotten about it until reading a story about witchs bottles in an old issue of National Geographic brought it to mind. The county history does not mention her. The story is second hand from older residents who supposedly were in on the demolition of the witches house in the mid-1940s, just after World War Two. The "Witch" was a recluse; though she lived near the center of town her house was an old ramshackled log construction and stood by itself in the center of three lots. According to the story everyone in town was afraid of her and she wasn't overly friendly with anyone in town; just staying to herself. Needless top say, anytime disaster struck anyone in town the whispering started that the old witch was probably behind it. Whoever she was, her time in the village took up the later part of the 1800s. Not date of death is remembered, but everyone who knew of her insists it was from natural causes.  Her old house sat, primarily empty, after her death. It was thought that a relative, in a neighboring state, inherited the property and pretty much forgot about it; though they must have kept up with any taxes. Sometime just after WW2, someone new bought the lots and what was left of the log house. The new owner decided to build a new house on the center lot where the log house stood. This necessitated tearing down the old house which was in really sorry condition. Right off the bat, when distruction started, the whole place caved in, almost getting some of the workmen who, luckily, saw it coming and got out of the way. It was just a matter of cleaning up the rotten logs and getting them disposed of. Much of the house had fallen into the basement. One wall that fell into the basement was found to be a falsewall. The wall behind it (they had collapsed together) was found to be covered with horse shoes in different configerations. While clearing out the basement they found sealed jars with nails and human hair in them. That got tongues a wagging. Other sealed jars appeared to have pieces of cloth, needles, and nail parings in them. All of this weird stuff was gathered up and burned or buried. I'm told no one opened any of the jars. I suspect the old girl was just alone so long, she was crazy. But older residents in this village think, even yet, that she was a witch. Think what you like, the time of "The Witch" was over a hundred years ago, even if there are still people around who remember the distruction of the house and what their elders told them about the old "witch" that lived there.

Glass broken inside in middle of the night.

   Our neighbors, not those next door but still in the village, experienced a strange phenomena last night and again early this morning. They live in a house that is modern in design, all on one floor; no basement, no attic. The house rambles a bit; you enter through a large sun room which opens into a roomy sitting room which opens into a small kitchen. From the kitchen is a hallway that leads to a Great Room on the right and the hall continues past the Great Room and leads to the Bath and three normal sized bedrooms. From the middle bedroom the hall continues to a pantry and then a utility room and the back door. From the hallway into the Great Room are French Doors. These doors contain of several panes of glass. These doors have been here better than 15 years. The doors open and close easily. The interior temperature of the house is controlled by either air conditioning or a furnace. The temperature range from summer to winter is between 60 and 75 degrees. There are two dehumidifiers that keep the humidity in the house close to normal. Last night, around 3 am a terrific crash of glass brought both owners out of bed with expectations of someone breaking in. A through search of the house revealed only that a pane of glass was broken out of those interior French doors. An inspection of the doors revealed that the other panes of glass were solidly in place and uneffected. Nerves shattered the owners retreated back to bed, the male of the household trying to convince himself the glass breaking was the result of changing temperatures. This morning when the pair got up, half convinced the broken glass was a fluke, they again went to the Great Room to look over the door in broad daylight. Again they inspected each pane of glass for evidence of why one would suddenly break. Everything was firm and fine. The couple had breakfast and as the lady of the house was going to the bathroom she again passed the French Doors and something didn't look right. Going over to the door she noticed the pane above the broken one was full if fine cracks. Considering the fact they had just checked each of these panes less than an hour prior, this was a surprise or maybe shock would be a better word. Running her finger over the crazed pane, the glass fell out of the center but remained around the edges. They now have two panes of glass to replace, But what could possibly cause such an unusual chain of events?  I know this entire area experiences the weird. I doubt that I hear even a fraction of what goes on in the area of strange occurances. These people are very close friends. I saw the result of this particular weirdness as they had not, as yet, replaced the glass. Anyone out there care to hazard a good guess how such a thing can happen?

A loud click or snapping noise

     Since we moved into this house,  in the summer of 1979,  we have experienced an unusual loud noise in the master bedroom. I cannot say for certain that it occurs every night because we often turn in after 11:30  and the sound usually occurs sometime after 11 but before 11:30. It sounds like a loud snap  which usually repeats, slightly less loudly, a few minutes later. The sound appears to come from the southwesternmost corner of the room where a dumbwaiter used to be located. The dumbwaiter was taken out of service and walled off sometime in the late 1940s. But if we chance to turn in a bit early, we about always hear this snap or click. The dogs do not appear to take notice of it. I tend to think it has something to do with temperature change in the old sealed dumbwaiter shaft. But precisely what????? I have no idea. Nor why the noise is always in that short time window.

Snatched Book?

 It happened a couple of days ago. I've mulled it over and tried some experimentation before deciding to include it here. Monday night, my wife and I turned in early as we were tired and we both had books we wanted to read. Once the dogs settled in, one at the foot of the bed and the other in his bed on the floor, all was peaceful. I read in bed, lying on my back but the wife prefers a side position. I had only read a few sentences when my wife exclaimed,"What?" My response."Whats the matter?" "Something jerked my book out of my hand". "You just dozed and dropped it," I replied. "No, she protested, I was in the middle of reading a sentence". Then bending over the side of the bed she said,"Where is it?" Playing dumb, I asked,"Wheres what?" "Wheres my book, I don't see it?" My suggestion was "Run your hand just under the bed it probably landed on end and flipped under the bed". "No, it didn't,"she replied as she slid out of bed and was looking under it. Then crawling half under the bed she says, "Its here, halfway under the bed." So how did it get halfway under the bed? She says, "I told you, it was jerked out of my hands." I did not persue the matter. But what??? jerked it out of her hands? Why was it jerked out of her hands? And....What was the point of taking it halfway under the bed? Yesterday afternoon, trying to figure out how in blazes that book got halfway under the bed; I went upstairs and laid on her side of the bed, opened the book and dropped it several times. changing position several times as I did so. That book landed in plain sight every time. So, as I think this is a bit strange, I have included it on this journal.

Mysterious broken pitcher

   My wife collects those old potbellied white clay pitchers that are so commonly seen in Victorian pictures and even older representations. The pitchers are definitely bottom heavy. As they are a favorite of my wife's. it would be most unlikely that she would place one where it would be in danger of being broken. Our kitchen has a doorway that opens into a short hall (no door) off to the left are the rear stairs to the upstairs, straight ahead brings you through another doorway into the diningroom and off to the right takes you through a doorway (with door) into the downstairs bathroom. A wide shelf, well secured to the wall and top of the door, runs across the top of the doorway out  of the kitchen. That shelf is solidly anchored on both ends as well with heavy brackets. On that shelf my wife has placed one of her pot bellied pitcher plus two other pitchers and a couple of chicken figures. I was working upstairs in the front bedroom doing nothing heavy, I might mention, and my wife was painting details on the bathroom wall. Both dogs were sacked out in the dining room. Suddenly a loud crash was heard, bringing us all from different directions. The white pitcher was in pieces on the kitchen floor . Nothing else on that shelf was even moved and the shelf is still very solidly fixed. Only that pitcher which was bottom heavy (surely too bottom heavy to tip) was off the shelf and broken. There appears to be no explaination for this. So what happened?

Strange occurance

   Though the house has been quieter than normal, we did have a strange experience last night. It was about 9:30pm, My younger dog and I were in the kitchen finishing up some leftovers. My wife with our older dog at her feet, was working on the computer. As the house is rather large, I had left the lights on in the diningroom, I knew I'd be coming back through that way. The kitchen lights were on, a couple of lights burn in the kitchen 24/7. The Library has a small lamp that is also always on. When I had cleared up the mess in the kitchen, my dog and I started back though the doorway to the short hall that leads to the diningroom. Before I reached the diningroom, the lights went off in the diningroom. Thinking my wife had quit on the computer and was coming through to the kitchen, I said something to that effect. My wife answered me from the Library. So what happened to the lights in the diningroom? My first thought was I'd have to trek down into our dungeon of a cellar and see which breaker blew. But turning I saw the lights that I had left on in the kitchen were still on. Part of the kitchens lights are on the same circuit as those in the diningroom. So I figured we must have a malfunctioning lightswitch. Going over to the wall switch I found it in the "OFF" position. Who turned off my lights before I entered the room? My wife was in a different room and my dogs are too short to reach the switch. This is the second such episode this season. A few weeks back the lamp timer was changed, but not by us. We have experienced less of the walking noises this year, but did we trade it for a poltergist? Ideas anyone?

Candleabra bulbs

   The missing bag of lightbulbs is still missing. I had to buy new ones. Its very frustrating.